Preview:Chelsea Women vs Paris Women - prediction, team news, lineups

Chelsea Women will play their first home game of the Women's Champions League league phase when they play host to Paris Women on Wednesday.

Sonia Bompastor's side had to settle for a point in their European opener against Twente, while Paris FC squandered a winning position in their 2-2 draw against Leuven on matchday one. 

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Match preview

Chelsea made a flying start to the 2025-26 campaign, recording four consecutive Women's Super League victories before their momentum was somewhat halted by a 1-1 draw against Manchester United.

The Blues had to settle for a repeat of that scoreline in last week's Women's Champions League opener against Twente, which saw Sandy Baltimore convert a 71st-minute spot kick to cancel out Danique van Ginkel's opener.

After being left frustrated by their result in the Netherlands, Chelsea would have been relieved to avoid another draw in Sunday's WSL clash against London rivals Tottenham Hotspur, with Keira Walsh scoring the decisive goal in a 1-0 victory to extend the club's unbeaten league run to 31 matches.

As a result of the win, the reigning WSL champions are sitting in top spot with 16 points to their name, leaving them a point clear of Manchester City and two points better off than Manchester United.

They will now turn their focus back to European matters, with the Blues hoping to claim their first win of the league phase in a bid to kick-start their quest to win their first UWCL trophy.

The Blues will also be looking to rediscover their cutting edge in the final third, having failed to score more than one goal in four of their last five outings.

Paris FC had to negotiate a third-qualifying round tie against Austria Vienna to secure their spot in the UWCL main draw for the second time in three seasons.

The French outfit played out a goalless draw in the home leg, before they picked up a 2-0 victory in Austria thanks to Clara Mateo's second-half brace.

They followed that success with league victories over Fleury 91 and Saint-Etienne to extend their overall unbeaten run to five matches before they fell to their first defeat of the season against Nantes.

Sandrine Soubeyrand's side looked set to bounce back with a victory, after Daphne Corboz and Mateo scored inside the opening 25 minutes of last week's UWCL league phase opener against Leuven.

However, they were unable to contend with a Leuven fightback in the opening stages of the second period, ensuring that they had to settle for a 2-2 draw at the Stade Charlety. 

Paris FC will be aware that they will need to be at their best to trouble Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, especially as they lost heavily in their only previous two meetings with the Blues in the 2023-24 group stage, where they followed a 4-1 away defeat with a 4-0 home loss. 

Chelsea Women Women's Champions League form:

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Chelsea Women form (all competitions):

Paris Women Women's Champions League form:

Paris Women form (all competitions):

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Team News

Chelsea remain without the services of Kadeisha Buchanan, Naomi Girma, Lauren James and Mayra Ramirez. 

Veerle Buurman and Catarina Macario are pushing for starting berths after coming off the bench to play over half-an-hour on Sunday. 

Sam Kerr could be given more minutes off the bench as she continues to build up her match fitness following a long injury layoff, while Lucy Bronze is likely to be among the substitutes after returning from injury as a late substitute against Spurs. 

As for Paris, they are unable to call upon defender Melween N'Dongala, who has missed the last six competitive matches through injury.

Goalkeeper Mylene Chavas could come back into the side after missing the opening game against Leuven due to concussion protocol.

Fiona Liaigre, Anaele Le Moguedec, Maelle Garbino and Lorena Azzaro could all come into Soubeyrand's thinking if changes are made for the trip to Stamford Bridge. 

Chelsea Women possible starting lineup:

Hampton; Bjorn, Bright, Buurman; Carpenter, Walsh, Cuthbert, Thompson; Rytting Kaneryd, Macario; Beever-Jones

Paris Women possible starting lineup:

Chavas; Liaigre, Hocine, Davis, Bogaert; Korosec, Corboz; Mateo, Le Moguedec, Garbino; Azzaro

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We say: Chelsea Women 2-0 Paris Women

On paper, Chelsea have a much stronger side than Paris FC, and considering the fact that they have won all three of their home matches this season, we think that the Blues will claim a relatively comfortable victory on Wednesday. 

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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